The LOOK 795 is Defiantly French

I really tried to not like this bike. It’s spec’d with tubular 23s, aero shaped tubes, a seat mast, and worst of all rim brakes. Pretty much a check list of what I’d tell you NOT to buy.

Viva La France

But….wait for it….the LOOK 795 Light is an incredible production super bike and I spent an afternoon with it nostalgic for going all-out fast and racing.

Not only is it fast AF, but the most defiantly French product on the market. LOOK should ship it with a dangling gold chain, a wedge of stinky cheese, and you should immediately take it up the nearest mountain pass, dancing on the pedals, milking every penny out of the $12K price tag.

I don’t climb well, never have, and yet I felt like I could riding this bike. Even with no more than a goddamn 21T cog on the back.

The 795 is French for the sake of being French, just so “out there” in style and form that it stands uniquely apart from what every other bike maker is currently doing. It’s a Parisian fashion model that can sprint in high heels, cut through a pack of riders like a swashbuckler, and negotiate a descent like a treaty in Versailles.

French AF

Yet LOOK’s obsession with re-envisioning every element of the racing bicycle can have its drawbacks. By now you’ve probably noticed how slammed the front end is. And, no I haven’t lost 20 pounds since you saw me last, or transformed my dad bod into a limber and lean racer. What happened was the LOOK stem system slipped 20deg as we roared down the rutted Marginal Way chasing another cyclist. The slip was terrifying, sudden, and sounded like a gun shot.

I did a full stop shaken by what could’ve happened, limped to the nearest bike shop, and waited for a ride from Pam Massey. After my mechanic, Mark V replaces that stem, and I get over being mad at the 795, I’ll ride it again.

It’s grounded for at least a week and can sit in the garage stewing in its Frenchness.

While my nostalgia for a straight-up, racing machine like the 795 was short lived, and tech like disc brakes has since removed it from my wish list, if you’re a go-fast racer type, or like to think of yourself as one, this is the bike you’re looking for.”